To all you good folks out there,
I'm happy to report that including the efforts of the Thicko Thousand(s) and
the VSCDA, we raised $20,000 in a very short time for Jon and his family.
(Trust me, this won't go very far in the big scheme of things...)
In the silver Sprite oil pan (Thanks Paul "Otis What a Mess I've Made of My
Life Campbell" Fitzsimmons) , with plexi lid/drop slot, adorned with Team
Thicko stickers, we raised over $3500. It was at registraion with signage
(Thanks Rick "Dr. Dreadful" Gurolnick), then at the Thicko Village lunch
soiree, (Thanks Gerry "the Scoutmaster" Brazil" for the Buzzard's Breath
Chile (sp?) and Jim "Elmo Mancini, the Meatball Magnate from Logantucky"
Donato for the nuclear half life Italian meatball sandwiches...), and
finally on stage Friday and Saturday night in Club Thicko for the Thicktones
performances. Thanks to Bill "Slowhand...Chords? I don't play no stinkin'
chords" Dalton, Terry "TuTone" Heffron, and John "Lips" Golanty for their
musical contributions. We sought requests.... $20 if we didn't know it...
and $10 if you were unfortunate enough that we did. (Basically... they paid
us not to play... a win/win situation).
Jon was at the track, tooling gingerly around in a golf cart (Thanks Rick
"Bigfoot" Cook). He looks pretty grim, and has a very steep uphill battle to
survive this challenge. His wife Sue and their 2 year old boy were there as
well. We were delighted when Jon found the strength, despite the
medications, the tube in his stomach, the shunts for the chemo, and having
all his teeth pulled, to get up on stage and play harmonica and sing "Choo
Choo Train". It was pretty memorable.
I'm so very glad to call you generous people my friends, and am thanful to
every one of you that was able to step up and help us support a fellow
Thicko racer. Please let me know if any of you would like to contribute, and
haven't had a chance to yet.
Below, is a an e-mail from Jon.
"I'll start off by saying Hello Everyone!! I'm not reallymuch on generic
letters, but they sure come in handy when you are trying to keep everyone
posted on what's up.
Our weekend up at IRP was to be the most wonderful weekend I ever had in my
life. I know I choked up a bit while saying Hi and Thank you to teh clan at
dinner, but I'm still speechless as to what you all have done for me and my
family- Having a good chunc of financial problems underhand for a while
enables one to concentrate on the biggest and most important problem being
my health. Once again my sincere thands to all of you for making this
bearable.
I started my chemo and radiation therapy this week. It's like going to your
first driver's school all feelings like being scared, intimidated,
frustrated, puzzled, etc... all come into play and what I am learning how to
do every minute, is how to deal with "real". What my outcome will be is
what I put into it and my attitude. Knowing that so, so many are out there
pulling for me makes it a lot easier.
My schedule goes like this, I get up walk around in circles for a while and
get over to Louisville 5 mornings a week for the radiation therapy at 9:10
A.M. that lasts about 20 minutes + -, then is back to the house for some
rest and going stir crazy for the rest fo the day. That with change when I
get used to my energy level during the day so I can get things done.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the rough ones. Tuesday I get radiation first,
then go to another facilityfor about 3 hours for chemo thrapy treatment
that's the stuff that knocks the stuffing right out of you, as for the the
weekends I'm off- no therapy at all escept my own so I can get prepped up
for the start of next week. All of the staff at the hospitals are wonderful
and think my attitude is pretty good so far. As I said before alot of
getting over and through this is up to me.
We will keep you posted, for right now I have to get some rest- because
Driver's School cars are on track at 9:10 a.m.
Love to everyone-
Jon
P.S. Thank you for all of the birthday greetings it has made my day."
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